The selection of Matt Goodwin as Reform’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, announced at a press conference by Red Wall’s Lee Anderson, is a stroke of genius.
I can remember how, long ago, when I was looking for a seat, I would seek desperately for any special connection with whatever constituency it was for which I was applying. The Midlands?
Yes, I went to Birmingham University. The North? I worked for Unilever and spent time at Port Sunlight. Wales? All my brother’s in-laws were Welsh. Scotland? My granny was born in Glasgow. You get the idea.
Goodwin does not have to scratch around for such connections. He cited not only his parents’ but also his grandparents’ lives there. His knowledge of and devotion to the area are indisputable.
Well, many would-be candidates might claim that, but Goodwin comes with an established national reputation. His famous Substack is read in 183 different countries and has 90,000 subscribers.
He has presented for GB News and is a regular political commentator, and anything he may say in the by-election cannot be portrayed as opportunism because he will have said it many times already.
An obvious example is his stand against scattering illegal immigrants throughout the country in Homes of Multiple Occupation or his inveighing against the reluctance to deal with the grooming gangs.
Matt Goodwin's unveiling as a Reform candidate is a stroke of genius. This is why - Ann Widdecombe | Getty Images
His arrival in Westminster, should he be successful, will add greatly to Reform’s standing because we need serious thinkers. That is why Danny Kreuger was such a coup. Goodwin is a former
academic who spent nine years as a professor at the University of Kent. He has served on the Social Mobility Commission. He is an author of several books and will debate at any time with anybody. I have always thought of him as a latter-day Roger Scruton, whose death left a big gap in right-wing philosophical commentary.
His presentation at the announcement of his candidature focussed on Starmer’s U-turns and inadequacies, and indeed, in a seat which has been a Labour stronghold, that will be a crucial tactic.
The uproar over Andy Burnham will not help Labour in an area where he is popular. However, recent polling suggests the real fight might be between the Greens and Reform, and Goodwin did not spare Zach Polanski either.
Nevertheless, there were some tricky bits. He was asked how he would appeal to the large Muslim population in the seat and also about Reform’s cancellation of major rail projects which affect the area.
He answered the first confidently enough, but I suspect the second might haunt him unless HQ tightens up the policy.
It is unlikely that the Tories will make much impact. Neither they nor the Lib Dems made much of a showing at the General Election.
For Kemi Badenoch, this by-election is not one likely to prove a route out of the morass and chaos which is her party today. She will have to wait for a more hopeful one, and that wait may be a long one.
In the next few weeks, I suspect we will see a raft of Reform hierarchy pouring into Gorton and Denton, but the real attraction will be the candidate, an unusually and uniquely qualified one.